The Humanities, Government, and Modern Languages Department is a multiple discipline department. We offer courses in eleven different disciplines in five discipline areas.

Our department philosophy is grounded in the realization that we exist to serve several groups. We are heavily involved in supporting the various occupational programs, both terminal and transfer, within the college. We also work closely with those Liberal Arts, Communication and Social Sciences Division students intending to transfer to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions. Finally, students -- primarily senior citizens -- enrolled on a non-credit basis are of major importance in our efforts to serve Montgomery County residents. Just as Sinclair is a comprehensive institution of higher learning, we are involved in a comprehensive effort to serve our various constituencies imaginatively, energetically, and faithfully.

We believe that the systematic and rigorous study of our academic disciplines has intrinsic merit. Education within the liberal arts framework truly liberates the individual; it allows one to look at the world as a whole, to reflect on the meaning of one's existence, and to celebrate the richness of the human experience. It also reinforces a pattern of lifelong study that can be immensely fulfilling and highly rewarding.

It is clear that those students taking courses within our department are building skills and patterns of thought essential for success within their careers. Rather than striving to educate individuals for a vocation, we seek to prepare them for a lifetime of creative work. We attempt in systematic fashion to develop in our students the ability to tolerate uncertainty in problem-solving; to analyze information carefully and evaluate it critically; to comprehend the processes involved in looking for solutions; to master higher-order thinking skills; and to speak and write clearly, concisely, forcefully, and logically. Our students are entering a world filled with uncertainty in terms of jobs which appear and vanish with startling rapidity. We endeavor to equip them with the skills essential to make the transition to career fields undreamed of at this point.